


Loss and Gain

by ThymeSprite



Series: Marvel Imagine Stories [14]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Feels, Protective Steve Rogers, Reader-Insert, Snarky Jarvis, Tony Stark Has A Heart, human behaviour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 05:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4292085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThymeSprite/pseuds/ThymeSprite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reader is a programmer working with Jarvis and feeling much more comfortable in his company than any human's.<br/>But her whole world changes when Ultron takes that friendship from her</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loss and Gain

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a marvel imagine, but since the blog has been taken down (apparently?) I cannot link it.  
> But it was something along the lines of "Imagine being really close with Jarvis so that he is almost your best friend."

“Well, hello Miss (Last Name)!”, the guard down in the lobby of the Avengers Tower greeted you and you could not help but roll your eyes. Why did Johnson have to be on duty today?

“Hi.”, you grumbled and showed him your lanyard from which your security pass was dangling idly. You fully expected him - against better knowledge - to press the button that would open the door to the tower, but instead the man smiled at you and said: “You’re looking good today, Miss.”

You had really had it with his flirting and said: “Let me pass, I have work to do.”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be so harsh.”, Johnson pleaded and gave you a smile that would have probably melted any girl’s heart…provided that girl had only her libido for a heart and no brain at all.

“Let me pass.”, you repeated, not willing to put up with his shenanigans today, but you had no luck, Johnson opened his mouth again and he had that telltale smirk plastered to his mouth. However, he was cut off by a curt, yet polite interruption: “Miss (Last Name) has the highest security level in this building, I suggest you let her pass immediately. Mr. Stark requires her assistance.”

“Can’t let Mr. Stark wait.”, the guard grumbled and let you through, finally. As soon as the doors closed behind you, a sigh escaped your lips that had been pressed to a thin line and you mumbled: “Thank you, Jarvis. Thanks for saving me from that buffoon.”

“It was my pleasure.”, Jarvis replied and you smiled, beginning your way up to the lab as you enquired, “What is it Tony needs?”

“Apart from a more responsible attitude at times, he would probably say a glass of expensive whiskey.”, Jarvis replied and you chuckled when he added, “But apart from that he is currently engaged in building new suits and will not need your assistance for hours.”

“So you…lied?”, you smirked as you boarded the elevator, “You lied to save me?”

“I merely exaggerated Mr. Stark’s current need of you.”, Jarvis said and you laughed, winking at the camera you knew was in the upper corner of the cabin, “And that, Jarvis, is why I like you so much.”

“You are very welcome.”, Jarvis said and you pictured him – not for the first time – doing a slight bow, just the British gentleman. You knew what the original Jarvis had looked like, but you always imagined Jarvis differently. It was an idle fancy, but it was all yours.

When you made your way down the hall, Jarvis spoke up again: “I have to agree with Mr. Johnson, however. You do look exceptionally pretty today, this new hair-do suits you.”

You had prepared to argue with Jarvis when he had mentioned Johnson, but now you found yourself blushing. Gosh darn it, he was a programme, but you had been closer to him than to anybody else…in the world. What that said about you? You really did not want to ponder on that.

“Uh…uhm…thank you, Jarvis.”, you stuttered and fussed with your hair again, “I, uh…didn’t do much.”

“But it suits you.”, Jarvis replied, “It adds to your attractiveness as it enhances your face’s symmetry and…”

“Whoa, hang on.”, you giggled as you opened the door to your office, just off the lab, “Did you just analyse my beauty and style choices?”

“It is scientifically proven that symmetry in a person’s face is associated with the perception of their beauty. Comparing the video feeds of the last weeks with today’s, I can say that your hair-do compensates the naturally occurring asymmetry in your face, resulting in others perceiving you as more beautiful.”

“So that’s why Johnson was even bolder than last week.”, you mumbled to yourself and Jarvis added helpfully, “His heart rate and outset of body heat increased as well, so he was excited to see you.”

At that you giggled as you logged into your account and told him: “Jarvis, one thing, two actually. Thanks for noticing my new hair-do, but the way you put it made it clear that you watched me. Girls tend to find that creepy.”

“But I am watching the entire building.”, Jarvis argued calmly, “It is my purpose as this building’s AI to watch, catalogue and analyse everything that occurs.”

“Even my hair-do?”, you asked with a grin and Jarvis took a moment to form his answer, then he stated, “Not for safety reasons, but due to the fact that we are having extensive conversations whenever you are working, I figured you might appreciate my insight.”

“And I do, thank you.”, you replied as you opened the code you had been working on for a few weeks now, “But, as I said, girls tend to find that creepy when they are reminded that they are being watched. I mean, we all know that you can see us in here, wherever we are, but it’s… nicer to keep the illusion of being alone sometimes. There are things we do not want others to see.”

“Like what for example, if I may ask?”, Jarvis wondered, always eager to learn new things about humans and you gladly complied, “For example… when someone is nervous and retreats to the bathroom or an abandoned part of the hallway to get their bearings, then they know there are security cameras, but they don’t wanna think of it and pretend they are utterly alone when they cry or try to find confidence by giving themselves a pep talk.”

Jarvis hummed quietly, as if thinking and with a chuckle, you added: “Yeah, humans are weird that way.”

“I think it is one of many endearing qualities.”, Jarvis replied and you raised an eye brow, but he made both of them shoot up when he asked you, “And how would one tell a woman that her new hair-do is looking very beautiful without reminding her of that fact that she has been captured on the video feed?”

“Uhm…”, you stalled for time, wondering where that question came from, “I’d say you could ask her whether she has done something with her hair for it looks different. Yes, I know that you would know as soon as you saw a woman, but hey, we like to pretend you really just noticed it. Then we can thank you for noticing and just feel like you men watch us close enough to notice a change, but not too close as a stalker would.”

“That sounds…very complex. And a tad bit deceiving.”, Jarvis said and you sarcastically huffed, “Welcome to the glorious world of dating. It is full of fine lines and you cross them once, you plummet down the abyss of eternal loneliness or step from one puddle of creepy, stupid partner into the next, totally ruining your new shoes you had just bought because the last puddle had soiled your last pair of shoes.”

You sensed that Jarvis wanted to say something, but you cleared your throat and just started working on the code. Tony wanted a few more commands implemented into the suits, his “Iron Army” and in order for you to test your commands, he had built you a little suit, just as long as your forearm and in glittering pink. Just to annoy you with the cliché of girls liking pink and glitter. But you had to give it to Tony, the suit worked perfectly and you got into your routine of writing new commands, then testing them with the pink suit.

Cursing softly when something went wrong, you tried again and all the while you were happily chatting with Jarvis, from time to time asking him a question or telling him about human behaviour, bouncing ideas off each other, philosophising. That way, time flew and you enjoyed every minute of it. Gosh, you just loved your job at Stark Industries.

“Ha.”, you mumbled when you found the error in the latest command you had been working on, fixed it with some new lines of code and watched closely.

“Tadaa! It works!”, you cheered as the suit did exactly what it was supposed to do.

“Congratulations on solving this issue.”, Jarvis said and you smiled, but he added, “I suggest you now find yourself a meal. You have missed lunch and your rate of characters per minute has dropped significantly compared to two hours ago. You should eat.”

“Right.”, you nodded, “I should. Gonna be back in five.”

But before you could leave your office, Jarvis held you back with another suggestion: “And please do not just heat up the pastries you like so much. You may find them delicious, but they are not a proper meal.”

“How dare you insult poptarts?”, you theatrically accused him, “This will bring the wrath of Thor down on you.”

“I was merely suggesting…”, Jarvis began his defence, but you cut him off with a chuckle, “I know. I promise I’ll eat something healthy.”

With that you left the office and made your way to the kitchen. Just to irk Jarvis a bit you heated your favourite poptarts, but you also chose your favourite fruit from the basket someone kept filled for Tony. But your money was on Steve for emptying the basket every day.

Smiling to yourself and already thinking about the next bit of code, you returned to the office and as you entered, you held the fruit up for the cameras to catch.

“See, Jarvis?”, you asked with exaggerated annoyance in your voice, “I did choose a healthy meal.”

“In addition to your pastries.”, Jarvis spoke, a slight accusation detectable in his words, but you flopped down into your chair and shrugged, “So what, they are a good source of seven vitamins, says so on the package. It is a healthy meal.”

You were fully prepared for Jarvis’ repeated suggestion to let Dr. Banner analyse the nutritional properties of your pastries, but before he could say it, Tony popped his head in and asked: “Who dares use the forbidden term “healthy” in this house?”

“Jarvis did it.”, you ratted him out, but the AI defended himself, “I was merely suggesting that Miss (Last Name) should find a healthy meal to nurture her while she is working on the coding for the suits.”

“Sounds reasonable.”, Tony nodded and you frowned at the traitor, but then he showed you his tumbler filled with whiskey and asked, “No meal is complete without whiskey. In fact, whiskey or beer are a meal on their own.”

“No, they are not.”, you immediately replied, because you still thought ill of drinking on the job, and Jarvis backed you up, “Sir, I have to disagree with you. Neither whiskey nor beer provide the essential vitamins and enough calories to nurture a person. Beer does have electrolytes and calories important for human health, however, the amount of beer a person would have to take in to reach the necessary calories for a day would be accompanied by an intoxicating amount of alcohol. Therefore, you choice is not recommendable, especially not to someone who is not as used to alcohol as… you are, Sir.”

Tony clutched at his arc reactor in a gesture of pained shock, betrayal and then gasped: “Et tu, Brutus?!”

“Brute.”, you and Jarvis corrected him simultaneously, “When addressing someone directly, you need the Vocative in Latin.”

Tony just looked at you, then indignantly blew raspberries and snorted: “Nerds.”

With that he turned on his heel and stormed off in his best imitation of a humiliated diva. You still were not sure whether he really had to act that part…

Then you burst out laughing and smiled: “Thanks, Jarvis. It’s always fun to annoy Tony with you.”

“It is my pleasure, as always.”, he replied and you got back to programming, typing with one hand and nibbling on your late lunch with the other. Hours passed like this and you missed dinner, even though Jarvis reminded you. But you wanted to stay here, in the safety of your office, because you knew very well what was going on out there and you did not really want to join in.

But, count on Jarvis to ruin that plan.

“It is late, Miss (Last Name) and you have not eaten yet. You are tired and have not spoken to anyone today but Mr. Johnson and Mr. Stark.”

“I spoke to you all day.”, you replied, but Jarvis calmly said, “Still, your contact to other human beings has been limited to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Stark. There is a party out there, why don’t you join it?”

“You know why.”, you mumbled, even though you knew that he only knew half of it. You had told Jarvis that you were rather shy and did not enjoy parties very much, the loud noises, the drunken people… but he could only guess that you enjoyed his company much more than anyone else’s. You could hardly say that, though, could you now?

Jarvis kept silent, waiting, and you both knew that this would make you give in, so you sighed heavily and yielded: “Alright, I’ll go down there. But one idiot to make a pass at me and I’m gone.”

“Very well.”, Jarvis said, “But in that case, you better not run into Mr. Stark.”

“Very funny, genius.”, you hissed a snarky reply, but then said, “Good night, Jarvis.”

“Good night. Have fun.”, he wished you and you thought that you detected a note of sadness in his words, just the slightest tinge, but you were not sure. You also were not sure whether you should really go to that party. You were just as happy as everyone else that the Avengers had come back safe and sound from Sokovia, but you really did not like parties. Still, you had promised to go and there would be food, so you decided to at least show your face, avoid the drunken idiots and then go home.

“Look who decided to show up.”, you were greeted by Tony and, to your luck, Steve was standing right next to him and he swooped in to rescue you, gentleman as always, “Good to see you, (Name), can I get you anything?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”, you declined and made your way to the buffet, hoping to avoid everyone else. But Steve followed you and with a smile he asked you: “Come on, what’s wrong? Is it the party?”

“How…?”, you began, but then mumbled, “Did Jarvis rat me out to you or are you really that perceptive?”

Steve laughed at your scrunched up face and then shook his head: “Jarvis kept your secret, but honestly, it’s not that hard to figure out. Why don’t you like parties?”

“Too many people, too much noise, too much alcohol.”, you grumbled and shrugged, but Steve smiled, reached around you and handed you a glass of juice, “Then keep to the sidelines, avoid the dance floor and drink this. Should get you through the evening. And if you need rescue from a drunken fool, just holler and the Avengers will come get you out. That’s what we’re here for.”

You chuckled, took the glass from his hand and said: “I doubt that, but thank you. It’s good to know there’s someone who cares.”

“We all care.”, he stated and when you frowned, he nodded, “All of us care about you. I don’t understand a word of what you, Jarvis and Tony are talking about when you’re working on the suits and the rest of the machines, but it all works splendidly. So I guess your worked has saved us all out there a bunch of times. We know that and we appreciate it.”

“Wow…”, you mumbled, “I’m just doing my job…”

“We both know that’s just half of it.”, Steve said, inclined his head and then left you to yourself, but you saw him not far off in the crowd and you felt safe, knowing that they were all there. And, should all else fail, you also knew that you could rely on Jarvis.

So you stuck to Steve’s advice and kept to the sidelines, avoiding the thick of the party and you found that you were actually having fun, watching the rest of the guests making fools of themselves. And when, hours later, they were clearing out and the Avengers settled down on the sofa to determine who could lift Thor’s hammer, you had a smile on your face, happy to have been there. You really would have to thank Jarvis for persuading you and Steve for giving you advice.

First, though, you really needed a bathroom break and you decided to talk to both after that much needed break.

You washed your hands and your face, enjoying the cool water after the stuffed and overheated party and when you left the bathroom, you asked with a smile: “Jarvis? I owe you, buddy.”

Silence.

You frowned deeply and instantly a terrible sense of alarm kicked in. Jarvis always answered you. Always. No exceptions.

“Jarvis?”, you asked, your voice already trembling with fright you could not control, “Jarvis, talk to me.”

Nothing.

Panting, you made your way back to the main room to ask Tony what was wrong with Jarvis, but instead of friendly chatter there was a mechanical voice you had never heard before. It chilled you to the bone, especially when you discerned the words “I killed him”. Who?

Then the deafeningly loud noise of battle pierced your ears and you ran, you ran for your life to the only place you truly felt safe, no matter what. You ran to Jarvis, to the lab.

“Jarvis, what is going on?”, you asked as you ran, breathing heavily, but yet again you received no answer.

You suddenly stopped dead in your tracks when a terrible realisation hit you.

“No.”, you murmured, pleading, “No, no, no…no. Not Jarvis.”

That voice could not have talked about having killed Jarvis, it just could not be.

You sped up, determined to reach the lab in no time and to whip Jarvis’ virtual ass for not answering you. But when you reached the lab, it was quiet, utterly quiet…silent as a grave.

Goose bumps raced over your skin as you dashed to the console, typing to find Jarvis, to reboot him. You mistyped for your hands were trembling and throughout the process of starting a reboot, you kept mumbling to yourself: “No, no, no.”

The reboot failed. The search for Jarvis’ files came up empty. He was gone.

“No.”, you refused to believe it and dug deeper and that was when you found it…fragments. The computer showed you the harsh truth, there were still files left of Jarvis, but they were in fragments, scattered widely. It almost looked like a murder scene and that was exactly what it was. Whatever that voice had belonged to, that person had butchered Jarvis. Your best friend, your everything… he was gone. Killed.

“No…”, breathing that one word like a prayer, you sank to the floor, pulled your legs up and hugged them tight, hiding your face in your knees, praying that it was all just a bad dream. But the pain told you it was not.

So you stayed where you were, hoping against hope to hear Jarvis’ voice any moment. Instead you heard the Avengers entering the room, shouting in agitation.

“No…”, Tony mumbled and you felt him plop to the floor next to you, pulling you into a hug you desperately needed not to fall apart.

“Jarvis…”, you began, but Tony shushed you, “I know. I know.”

That was the night your best friend had been killed, the night you had lost everything. To be honest, the next few days were a blur in your memory. You had to have been at work and functioning, but you had no recollection of the days. All you knew was that you missed Jarvis. You even caught yourself talking to him while you worked…until you remembered that he was not there any longer.

One day, it was a Thursday, you lost it. You thrashed your coffee mug by throwing it at the wall.

“Miss (Last Name), what is the matter?”, you heard Jarvis’ voice and you smiled, but then you remembered that fateful night. He was gone.

“Oh boy, I’m going mad.”, you mumbled to yourself…but hearing his voice, even if it was only in your mind, had given you a new idea. You had found fragments of Jarvis so…maybe you could revive him.

Putting this burst of fresh energy to good use, you pulled up the file fragments you had found on the hard-drive and got to work. But a few hours later (without having stopped for a meal because no one was there to remind you to do so) you admitted that it was hopeless. Whatever you could have put back together, it was not Jarvis, it would only be some Frankenstein’s monster version of him. Barely recognisable and certainly not Jarvis. At all.

So you turned to another problem Tony had put you on, the ally who kept constantly changing the codes to the nuclear warheads. You could not find an IP address, nothing. But the pattern, the way the person used, it was so… oddly familiar.

And then it hit you.

“You’re in there.”, you muttered and quickly tried to verify your finding. Yes, whoever was changing the codes was in the internet itself, just like Ultron. And that meant only one person could possibly be responsible.

“Tony!”, you shouted and ran, tablet in your hand, “Tony, I’ve found him!”

“What now, sweetheart?”, he asked as you burst into the lab, startling both Tony and Bruce, so you explained, out of breath from running and excitement, “I’ve found him. Jarvis isn’t dead.”

“Honey, we’ve been over this…”, Tony said, but you cut him off, “He is the one changing the codes to the warheads, he’s our ally. He wasn’t killed, he just…retreated. Like the clever guy he is.”

“(Name)…”, Tony sighed, but you shoved the tablet in his face and urged him on, “Check it. It’s true. He’s not dead.”

Tony gave you a pitying look, but you smiled and when he looked down at the tablet, he frowned. Bruce came over to study your findings as well and when he blinked repeatedly, you knew you had convinced at least him. Tony then handed the tablet back to you and walked over to the nearest console, barking an order at you over his shoulder: “Isolate everything you can find about him. We may need it. We can revive him.”

This gave you the first feeling of happiness you had had in a while. Accordingly, you worked day and night, only concerned with Jarvis.

Yes, somewhere in the back of your mind it registered that you were giving up on a normal life for a programme, not even a guy, but a programme, but you did not care anymore. You wanted him back.

So you frequently slept in the office and your daily routine was sleep, work, take a break whenever your alarm clock reminded you that it was time for a meal, work, sleep, repeat.

You were just taking a nap after a long day of retrieving the tiniest bits that were still left of Jarvis’ code when a clash of thunder woke you. That would not have been so alarming in the city, but you could have sworn that the lightning and thunder were coming from inside the building. As were the loud, quarrelling voices.

You made your way to the lab where the noise was coming from and when you stood in the doorway, you stopped dead in your tracks. The lab was wrecked. Moreover, the Maximoff twins were there, and according to your last update, they were the enemy, but hey, things were changing so quickly and Tony had been your boss for years now, you had learned to just roll with anything he would throw at you.

But what really got you attention was the person standing next to Thor, talking to him. That voice… was so familiar you felt your heart skip a beat.

“Maybe I am a monster. I do not think I would know if I were one. I am not what you are and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me.”, the red man next to Thor was saying and then, he handed him Mjöllnir, casually adding, “But we need to go.”

You smiled to yourself for he did not only sound like Jarvis, he also had his unmistakable sass. So you ran up to him and mumbled, tears already running down your cheeks: “Jarvis.”

He turned his attention to you, as did everyone else in the room, and he looked at you for a long and stretching moment, regarding you closely, but you could not take that sort of scrutiny. You stepped closer and took his hands into yours. He had hands. He was a man. Or at least close enough to one. Whatever Tony had done, it had resulted in more than merely reviving Jarvis.

“I…am not Jarvis.”, the then said and you took a step back, surprised, shocked and you mumbled, “But…?”

“Ahem…we, uh, we fed the data of Jarvis you retrieved into a body.”, Tony said and you were at a loss. Blinking in utter confusion, you stepped back, but the man did not let go of your hands and softly said: “I am… a vision, not your friend Jarvis. But I do have his memories, memories of you. Fond memories. I do not understand all of this and I hope you can help me, but now we really need to go. We will talk later, (Name).”

With that, they all filed out and left you alone. You let them go, because you knew they had to go, Ultron was still at large. But that did, by no means, make you feel any better. You had thought that you had gotten your best friend back, but instead… you were alone.

Sniffling and trying hard to keep the sobs in, you plundered Tony’s liquor cabinet and settled down onto the floor, abandoning the search for any sense in all of this and instead resorting to the oblivion twenty years old whiskey provided.

You did not remember, but you guessed that you had to have fallen asleep, because when you woke, your head was a swirling mess of dull pain.

Groaning quietly, you silently cursed the whiskey for being all too effective and you slowly tried to get up for it would not do to have the Avengers return and find you passed out on the lab’s floor. It was just… that lab’s floor was oddly soft.

“Huh?”, you muttered and forced your eyes open, just enough to barely squint, but then you realised that you were in the room Tony had given you so that you could sleep in the tower if work had kept you there too long. How had you gotten here?

You tried to get up, but an instant and severely punishing wave of nausea made you quickly give up on that futile endeavour.

“Easy.”, Jarvis’ familiar voice spoke behind you and had it not been for the alcohol, you would have answered your best friend with a sassy remark… but your mind was hazy, so your sass-mode took a moment to kick in and that moment was long enough to make you remember that Jarvis was not there anymore. Instead there was…

“Vision?”, you mumbled as you turned around and you saw him sitting there, next to you, on your bed, an awkward smile on his lips that were so human, yet so different. You still had immense trouble wrapping your head around all of that.

“I found you passed out in the laboratory.”, Vision told you, his strange, yet fascinating eyes holding your gaze, “And…what is left of your friend Jarvis stirred…concern in me. I knew I had to take care of you, even though I do not quite understand why.”

You did. Apparently, Jarvis had felt something for you, as far as he had been able to as a programme, albeit an advanced one. But whatever there had been, it was gone now…or at least buried under sheer countless layers of confusion.

Tears welled up in your eyes and your heart ached for what you had not quite had with Jarvis and had now lost nonetheless.

“Are you in pain?”, Vision enquired in concern, “I looked up a number of remedies for you affliction, I provided water and painkillers for your use should you be in need of them.”

With these words, he reached behind him to the nightstand and actually produced a bottle of water and a little box of painkillers. It was so absurd, yet so lovely, it made you laugh and cry at the same time. It was exactly what Jarvis would have liked to do had he ever caught you hung-over, but he would never have been able for he simply could not have physically brought those items to you. But Vision had. And even though he was not Jarvis, there was the same kindness and purity in him. He just lacked Jarvis’ sass, but that could be taught, eventually.

“Thanks.”, you said and took the provided remedies. Your fingers brushed his and you marvelled at the strange contact. His skin was soft, but too smooth for a human being, warm to the touch, yet not quite warm enough. It was strange, but it was wonderful all the same.

“Is there anything more I can do?”, Vision asked you, “Is there a way to stop your pain? You are still crying…”

“Those are…happy tears.”, you said and he gave you a puzzled look, a look that was exactly the look you had imagined on Jarvis’ fantasised face when you had told him about the concept of crying out of joy. Vision had so much of him it was almost painful to watch, but it was a sweet pain.

“I do not understand.”, Vision gave you the exact same words Jarvis had given you back then and you sighed, “I know. But bottom line, crying is an expression of helplessness. And whether a human is helpless against their joy or their sadness does not change the fact that we cry. We just feel either good or bad about it.”

He sat deep in thought for a moment, but then mumbled: “I cannot cry.”

“Why would you cry?”, you slowly asked, taking a sip of water. Vision carefully planned his next words and then explained: “I feel helpless. I do not understand the things happening around me. I know what is happening and I have some understanding as of why certain things are occurring, yet I seldom understand a human individual’s motivation. According to your reasoning, I should be so overwhelmed by my helplessness that I should be crying, yet I find myself not able to.”

“Maybe you’re just taking it a whole lot better than I would.”, you smirked and he thought about it, then smiled, just the slightest bit before he went serious again, “Can I ask you a favour?”

“Of course you can.”, you replied, thinking that somehow, there was still so much of Jarvis left, you wanted to help your best friend, but Vision, as little as you knew about him, was already dear to you. Maybe you should have felt concern about the fact that the two men you were most comfortable with were a programme and a humanoid android sharing traces with that programme, but you ignored that fact for the time being.

“Could you…explain it to me?”, Vision asked of you, “Human behaviour, human emotions. Like you…explained them to your friend Jarvis.”

You gave him a sad smile and nodded: “I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you.”, Vision said and, when a tear for Jarvis rolled down your cheek, he gently wiped it away, enquiring curious like a child, “It is loss you are feeling?”

“Yes it is.”, you confirmed, “He was my best friend. You are a lot like him, but you are… not quite him.”

“And that is painful for you.”, he stated, but you shook your head, only to nod then, “In a way, yes, but it is good to see that something of him remains in you. He lives on, yet you are an individual, set out to make your mark on the world. Jarvis would have been proud to be a part of someone like you.”

For this he gave you a genuine smile and before you could ask, he suggested: “Come, to ban the intoxication from you system, you need a healthy meal.”

“Not this again.”, you thought to yourself, but he was already up and gesturing for you to get up as well so you smiled at his and Jarvis’ shared concern for your nutrition and you followed him with that bright smile. Even though you mourned the friend you had lost, you loved the friend you had gained.


End file.
